Poems on Immigration

The United States of America is a country of indigenous peoples and immigrants. Its inhabitants speak countless languages and have a multitude of experiences and often untold memories. They carry on cultures and customs from nations near and far.

The poet Emma Lazarus wrote a sonnet in 1883 to help raise public funds to build a pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, but it received little notice when published and played no role in the opening of the statue. After her death, “The New Colossus” would become perhaps the most famous poem by an American poet. Thanks to the efforts of Lazarus’s friends after her death, the poem would be printed on a plaque and placed on the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. Its famous lines, “Give me your tired, your poor, / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” are among the most quoted lines in American poetry and have served the country as an informal immigration ethos ever since.

The contemporary poems collected here tell the stories of those who have left their homelands to start a life in the United States. These poems often straddle two worlds, and two languages, to find truth in experience. They witness new beginnings, border crossings, acts of racism and discrimination, and homesickness. To suggest further additions, please contact us.